The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-03-10
Life in Wild Siberia.

Iii cdNn Ndblh ID lht SC
which is used for both heating and
cooking" said Lieut.. W. H. Scheutze,
who has travelled in northwest Siberia.
/ There is seldom more than one room
| in these cabins, and usually the own
er's cattle, if he has any, occupy one
end of the room in which he lives, be-
ing tied or prevented from trampling on
the babies BY bar. The houses are
commonly very comfortable, but are
very dirty, and smell-there is no word
to describe it. Often, until / got used
to it, l would rather lie down in the
snow outside with the thermometer so
degrees below zero, than sleep in one
of these huts. But you've no idea
what a man can stand when he has
to"
Have they windows in their hous-
esp"
"Yes, ice windows. They use ice as
we use glass. A clear piece is selected
about five or six inches thick, mortised
in the window-opening in blocks two
feet and sometimes as large as four
feet square, and with water is made
solid. The water is as good as putty.
When the window becomes dirty they
scrape it off with a knife, and when it
has been scraped thin they substitute 3
new pane
Doesn't the window ever melt?"
BLESS you, no; it is freezing cold
that far from the fire. If the room
ever got warm enough to melt the ice
the Yekut couldn't live in it, and
would have to 90 out doors to cool of.
At night the fire is allowed to 90 out,
as they have to economic in fuel. All
they have is driftwood gathered on the
banks of the Lena river in the summer
time.
How do they sleep' Do they un-
dress when they go to bed?'
always. They strip to their shirts,
which are made of thick sort of Rus
sian cloth, as heavy as our canvas.
The men and women wear the same
kind of garments, and never have more
than one at a time. | took up lot of
thick flannel for them, enough to last
the rest of their lives, and it will be a
great deal more comfortable than the
native stuff, although they don't like it
at first. Whom they undress they get
into hunks built in the side of the
house, sometimes man, his wife, and
all his children in the same bunk
| They have reindeer skins under and
over them, and curtains of the same
hanging before the hunks"
'.Do they ever bathe?'
Never in their lives. They haven't
any word for bathing in their Ian
guage, and the impossibility of keep
ing clean is one of the greatest hard
ships of Arctic life. -
What do they eat?''
Reindeer meat, beef-thev have
cows, queer-looking animals about
half as large as ours, with hummock
on their backs like camcl-fsh, bread
made of black rye flour, tea, and an
imported food made of chopped beef
rolled into balls about the size of a
marble and covered with a dough.
These they pound up and make into a
soup. Then there is wood that is
very nutritious when it is ground up
/ ana boiled Mixed with reindeer meat
it makes good soup. Tney often eat
their fish raw. OF course, they freeze
soUd as soon as they are taken out of
the water, and the native, particularly
If he is on the road, cuts them off in
shavings as thin as our Clipped beef,
and eats them raw. They are pala-
table, and | have lived for days at a
time on them, with cup Of coffee,
made over an alcohol-lamp, by way of
variety. The greatest luxury they
have is butter, and they will eat it by
the pound as our people eat confection-
cry. A poor sort of butter is made
from the milk of native COW, that
| looks and tastes more like cheese, and
! they prize it above all other classes of
| food.
The amount of butter a native will
"at when ne can get it" continued
Lieut. Scheutze, ''is astonishing. A
friend of mine in Siberia told me of a
man who ate thirty-six pounds in one
day, and then didn't get all he wanted.
They have way of pounding up
red berry and mixing it with butter.
which gives it a beautiful pink tint
and improves the flavor. Their drink
( is the Russian vodka, almost pure alco-
hol, and they will trade their shirts for
it. The liquor is scarce but expensive,
so they are necessarily temperate
/ people. '-Ciacis,aati Sun.